Motivating People To Get Involved

Each year, our student leaders wrestle with ways to get more of their peers, other students, involved in service-oriented events and projects.  These student leaders offer a variety of opportunities for their fellow students to serve in one way or another, from ongoing service clubs and ministries to one-day events that meet a specific need.  But often, participation is lacking.

It's time for greatness -- not for greed. It's a time for idealism -- not ideology. It is a time not just for compassionate words, but compassionate action.
-Marian Wright Edelman

This article will deal specifically with this issue of motivating students to serve.  It will list some of the ingredients and characteristics that are necessary to have greater buy-in from those we want to get involved.

The first question that must be addressed is: What makes a student get involved or do anything?

There is an endless list of options available to students each and every day.  Each decision, whether we say yes to one thing and no to another is motivated, in large part, by the anticipation of a perceived benefit or the fear of a consequence.  For the student leader who plans and promotes opportunities for their fellow students to give of their time and resource, he/she must be mindful of this process.  When we can help people know why they should say yes and why they shouldn't say no, we will do a better job of helping them to get involved.

Here are some of the inner questions that every student asks when presented with an opportunity to serve:

• What is the purpose of this event?
• Is it something that I'm even interested in?
• Who else is coming? (this is huge...don't enderestimate the relational component!)
• Who's in charge?
• What do I get out of it?
• What will I miss out on if I participate?
• How much time and effort is required of me?
• Will the event be better because I'm there?

How prepared are you to answer these questions when a potential person starts to think about getting involved?

Often, a student leader assumes that the opportunity to serve should be motivation enough.  But there are other key factors that influence whether a person will jump on board of an opportunity you present.  While you, as a student leader, may not be able to address each of the following factors specifically, it is good to have a general idea about each one. 

PURPOSE: Does the opportunity that you are proposing have a clear purpose to it?  What are you wanting to accomplish and why are you trying to accomplish it? Simply saying that an event, activity, or service opportunity will be "fun" or even "important" isn't the best way to communicate its purpose.  At the outset, you must state why this is important and how the intent or purpose lines up with a person's personal sense of purpose.

There is no greater calling than to serve your fellow men. There is no greater contribution than to help the weak. There is no greater satisfaction than to have done it well.
-Walter Reuther

For example, you may want to plan a day of raking leaves in a certain neighborhood.  The purpose that you communicate may be to assist one's neighbors, to beautify the neighborhood, or to offer our resources (youthful energy and strength in numbers) to a felt community need.  People who are trying to decide shouldn't be confused by the event's purpose and should know beforehand what you hope to accomplish.

CHALLENGE: Let me let you in on a little secret: most students like to be a part of something challenging, especially when they feel like they will make a difference if they tackle something head on.  The key is to tie your challenge to a cause worth investing in.  If a student feels like they are being asked to do grunt work that most anyone can do, they may feel like it's not worth it.  But if they can see that you not only need them, but you need THEM, they will be more willing to make what they consider to be their unique contribution.

Pick projects that tap into the giftedness of your fellow students.  Do something that may not be easily accomplished.   Plan, organize, and promote the challenge as a special contribution that can be made by your student group.  Then make sure you celebrate its accomplishment together.

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
- Anne Frank

CAMARADERIE:  Who gets involved in your event or project may have an impact on whether or not other students choose to get involved.  If you can get an entire cluster of friends involved, it will increase the level of buy-in from those students.  Students want to know who else is participating.  Getting a cluster of friends onboard in an event or project provides them with an opportunity to spend time together doing something meaningful and significant.

Also, people tend to work better if they like the people that they work with.  Consider the different personalities, temperaments, cultures, values, etc. that each person brings to the group.  Many times, we can overlook these things if we're involved in a short-term project.  But if you are planning to spend an extended period of time together, these characteristics become more important to identify.

RESPONSIBILITY:  There are a couple of factors to consider in the area of responsibility.  First, it is important to allow students to take responsibility in the event or project you are planning.  Responsibility leads to ownership.  That is a powerful motivator.  If they don't feel any responsibility toward the project, than it makes it that much easier to walk away or to say no.

We work on ourselves in order to help others, but also we help others in order to work on ourselves.
- Pema Chodron

Secondly, we must be wary of giving too much responsibility or setting up our students for failure.  If we overwhelm those involved with a level of responsibility that exceeds their time and resources, we sap the energy they have toward the project.  If we put them in a position where the challenge is too great or they don't have the necessary authority or resources to carry out their tasks, their involvement and experience will be viewed negatively.  This will make them extremely reluctant to get involved again in the future.

GROWTH: One factor that motivates people to get involved in service to others is the growth that occurs in their own lives.  Unfortunately, this is usually realized after the event.  Many service projects or events offer the student an opportunity to learn or hone a new skill.  It allows them to meet and interact with people who live and operate in a different environment then their own.  More often than not, those involved in service find the effort causes growth in themselves more than the people they are serving.

If you are responsible for an ongoing, recurring type of service project or event, it would be wise to collect personal testimonies from those who were previously involved.  Allow their stories to motivate those who might be interested.  Help students to see how they might grow or be positively changed as they invest themselves in bringing about positive change for others.  It's like Emerson said,

"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."

LEADERSHIP: While the other factors deal with areas that you will attempt to communicate to those whom you'd like to get involved, this area is important for you.  Any time you attempt to bring a group of people together, to meet a certain need, toward a certain cause, because of a certain purpose, you will need leadership.  The leader works to bring all of these components together and has a knack for helping others see the best in themselves.

Good leadership must be in place to help those who get involved or who want to get involved to continually answer the question that I posed at the beginning: What makes a student get involved or do anything?  When the leader provides the right answers to this question (and it will be a different form of the answer for each person) they will motivate those involved toward accomplishing the task and meeting personal needs.

I realize that there will always be some who cannot be motivated to join an event or activity that is service-oriented.  In the end, motivation is something that is found on the inside of a person, something that we can only ignite and not force on someone. 

I believe that the greatest motivation to serve others is love.  When we are able to motivate others to serve, not because they feel like they have to, or because they need to, but because they want to - then we provide them with an opportunity to be great.

Everybody can be great... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.